Grampy™

Will/are you ride(ing) more with the price of gas escalating? If not what price would it take?

Digital Gee

Price o' gas ain't got much to do with my driving. I don't drive very much (8,000 a year) but all of it is stuff I couldn't bike.

Artkansas 

From experience, I'd have to say that my price point is 25 cents per gallon. That's about what it was when I started riding to get around.

Rick@OCRR

Where I work I can't ride my bike to commute, so I have to drive. That said, I drive a Honda Insight and I'm getting 71 mpg, so it could be worse!

Rick / OCRR

countersTrike

Actually, I suppose not. I have the lowest annual miles (7000) due to very low cost insurance. I am usually way under that minimum with 4000 annual miles in the car. I already ride my trike much much more!

countersTrike

BSLeVan

Not really. Like DG, most of my driving is unavoidable. I stopped driving as a means of pleasure or recreation many years ago. I do tend to try and consolidate chores during car trips, but I ride the bike about the same. If there were more universal accomodations for cyclists, I might consider some trips by bike that I now make by care. For example, I couldn't get a week's worth of groceries in one trip by bike, but I might do two trips if it wasn't such a pain to find a secure place to lock up and a better attitude toward cycling customers. But this is just speculation on my part.

ilmooz

All of my driving is necessary as well. The biggest effect of gas prices for me will be evaluating MPG ratings far more seriously when I buy my next vehicle.

RalphP

If my employer would become positive on the idea, I'd commute. I'd like to see a few cubicles in our office converted into bicycle parking. Is that too much to ask?

John E

I always try to minimize my driving, irrespective of the current price of fuel, which is only a small part of the total cost of motoring. My neighbor is currently reaping benefits as the third owner of my 1988 Dodge Aries K station wagon, which I bought new at the end of December 1987 and which is only now creeping up on 100k miles on the odometer (97,300 this morning). I replaced the K car 7 years ago with a VW Passat wagon, which is just coming up on 42k miles, and which can deliver a good-but-not-great 30mpg on the freeway.

NOS88

I know a guy who just bought a used small balkc V-8 Chevy that only gets about 17 miles per gallon. He did the math and for the price of his car with 80,000 miles on it ($1800), and in excellent shape, he figures he'd have to do a lot of driving even at $4.00/gallon to make up the difference between his car and a $15,000+ car. I think he said he'd have to drive over 55,000 miles before buying the higher gas milage new car would be worth it. Since he only drives about 8,000 miles a year, he thinks he made a pretty good choice. And he only intends to keep the car 3 or 4 years. BTW, with this Chevy his roof rack is wide enough he can easily get four, maybe five bikes lined up on it.

BluesDawg

Commuting by bike is not practical for me for several reasons. The price of gas might have an impact on where I ride. More rides starting from home and fewer drives to start rides.

bike4life

As soon as the snow finishes melting I'm back at commuting 2x/week through May, then it will jump to 4x/week. I figure I can pay myself $5/roundtrip, so it won't take long to earn enough to pay for more serious bling for the bike and its rider.

Grampy™

I want to see him get 17 mpg with 4 bikes on top.... LOL. Still his math does have some sense to it.

I only drive about 7,000 miles per year so it's not about affording it...... I think I just want to avoid driving more just out of spite. It ticks me off to see these price gouging oil company's gettin' richer by the second and the government turning around and giving them tax breaks.

My niece gave her car up entirely.... sold it. She lives in Chicago and either rides her bike or takes the bus. (Good for her!)

SSP

I commute to work about 80% of the time, and really enjoy it. The savings for gas are just part of the rationale.

It's such a "righteous" feeling to roll out of my garage on the bike, and hit the garage door opener to shut the door with my car still sitting inside.

Benefits include:

• I get great exercise and training for my races
• I save wear and tear on the car
• I save on gas
• I contribute much, much less to global warming (especially when compared to all the big ole pickups and SUV's I see every day with a single driver and no passengers )
• It helps a LOT with weight loss/weight management.

Beverly

Commuting to work is not an option for me. I currently put 20,000 miles a year on my van and 13,000 of it is commuting. I'll be retiring later this year and I'm hoping to cut my annual mileage back to 5,000 or less. I plan on using the bike for errands around town and leaving the van parked as much as possible.

John E

I did something very similar in 1980, when my wife and I finally decided to break down and buy a second car. (We had bought the first four years earlier, at age 26, after more than 3 years of a blissfully car-free marriage.) My next door neighbor was selling his drab olive green 1973 Chevy Chevelle, euphemistically called a "mid-size" car, for $1300. It was in near creampuff condition, with 47k miles on the odometer, but everyone still remembered the gas "crises" of 1973 and 1979, and no one wanted to buy a 5.7L V-8 powered car which got only 12 mpg city / 17 highway. I drove it for 9 years and sold it for $600 with about 85k miles on the odometer. Even with a $700 engine repair bill (stripped plastic cam gear) and water pump, radiator, idler arm, fuel pump, and starter replacement, plus a $129.95 bright green Earl Scheib paint job, it was pretty economical transportation. However, my wife and I both got sick of driving the two-ton monstrosity, affectionately called "The Dinosaur" by my carpool buddies. We replaced it, arguably the worst car we ever owned, with a 4-cylinder 1989 Dodge Spirit, which in many respects was the best car we ever owned.

BigBlueToe

I don't drive much, so I don't worry so much about it. I live across the street from where I work. I fill up the tank about once every two months.

The concern now is driving to the starting point of my rides. I ride from home more - loops where I start and end at home - instead of driving to cool spots to ride. I still do that but less often. I'm really concerned about my summer tour this year. I want to drive back up to Washington and continue the ride I was on last year, but I'm not sure I can afford to drive up there.

The Smokester

How about taking the train? Last summer I took the train up to Eugene and bicyled back to San Francisco.

cccorlew

My wife and I both bike commute now. If we could do something about our 17 year old daughter, like get her to ride, we'd not use the car during the week. We've even talked about getting rid of my car (our second car)

But living in the suburbs it is darn near impossible to do without a car entirely. We even try to ride to BART to do other rides. But sometime that's impossible. I want to ride Marin Thursday. Gotta drive. Hate that.

Deanster04

Yes, riding to work more often...

stapfam

At $10 a gallon amd 350 miles a week to get to work @44 mpg- I wish I could commute but 35 miles each way is a bit too much.

roccobike

I don't see the price of gas having much effect on my cycling. The town I live in has not caught on to the concept of people riding bikes to the store.

big john

I never bike instead of drive, but I only drive about 10K per year. I may avoid doing some of the rides that start far from home, although I have one coming up that is 50 miles from here and a friend wants me to do one that is 85 miles away.
The gas prices, or any big slowdown in the economy, hurts my income, and the last paycheck was pretty small.

DougG

I expect to ride more on the local roads and rail-trails instead of driving a couple hours to some of the other ones around the state. We also regularly use our bikes to ride into town to the library, go out for breakfast, coffee, etc., and that will probably increase.

The price of gas for once has really got to be figured into things where it did not used to be a factor. Such as driving to a store to save $5 on something, but it costs you that much or more in gas. Driving to the LBS is an exception, since the entire trip can be categorized as "recreation/hobby expense".

oilman_15106

"the current price of fuel, which is only a small part of the total cost of motoring."

This say alot. Unless you are going totally car free you still have insurance, depreciation, inspection(here in PA), state plate fees, what else have I forgotten that does not go away. Not saying you should not replace some of your driving with cycling but it is a falacy that you will save a ton of $. The other thing that is not considered is lets say you work in a big city like San Fran. What is the cost of housing and real estate taxes if you live close enough to cycle to work vs. the burbs. My thought is that in some cases gas has got to top $6 for it to be a wash.